Over and Over Again
by nekilarose
Summary: AKA: Bonnie Bennett's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day that won't end.


_Hallelujah, I'm a witch,_

_I'm a witch, Hallelujah,_

Bonnie woke with a gasp, reaching out to silence her radio before laying back down. Her dreams had been unusually grim these past few days. There was nothing she could pin down as the cause, but she always felt uneasy when she woke.

She got out of bed and took a moment to take a few calming breaths. She briefly considered meditating before looking at her clock and dismissing the idea, she was running late already. She rushed through her morning routine before heading out to her car. As she locked the door behind her, Bonnie felt a wave of dread sweep over her.

Something was going to happen today.

The feeling stayed with her all through her morning classes, she could hardly focus on anything that was said. Bonnie hadn't been communing much with nature as of late (between all her school work, after school activities, and her current disagreement with the spirits, actively practicing her witchcraft had fallen by the wayside) and had never regretted it as much as she did right now. All her senses were on high alert but she had no idea what she was looking for.

"Okay, what is going on?" Caroline's voice cut into her thoughts, "You've been acting spacey all day."

Bonnie jerked to attention; she had been scanning the lunch area without even realizing it.

"Is everything alright, Bon?" Elena asked in her gentle way.

"Yeah" Bonnie tried to focus her attention on the conversation that was happening. "Sorry Care, what were you saying?"

"I was saying that homecoming is less than two weeks away, and you still have no date. You need to get on that Bonnie."

"Caroline calm down, there's still plenty of time." Elena, ever the peacemaker, tried to placate the blonde.

"Um, not really." Caroline snapped, "Almost all of the viable candidates have been taken, you don't want to end up going with a pity pick, or worse" her voice lowered dramatically "alone."

"God forbid." Tyler rolled his eyes, "If Bon wants to go alone, she should. Why is it such a big deal that she have a date? Isn't that the feminist thing girls are doing now, anyway?"

"My best friend will not go to homecoming alone!" Caroline sounded indignant at the very thought. "Matt, don't you have any friends that you can set Bonnie up with?"

"Why didn't you ask me?" Tyler cut in.

"Because all your friends are neanderthals, and she deserves better." Caroline sneered.

Bonnie had tuned them out once more; the feeling had grown stronger again. She surreptitiously scanned the lunchroom, her eyes landing on the slouched form of Malachai Miller. He was idly spinning a pencil on the lunch table while one of his friends was animatedly talking about something. Suddenly, the pencil that he was spinning shot out from his hand and flew across the cafeteria. Bonnie sat up straight in her seat.

Something was happening **NOW**.

She eased away from the table, her eyes following the trajectory of the pencil. Once she cleared the cafeteria, she broke out into a run, still following the wayward writing instrument.

She ran past the science and math buildings until she came to a stop. The pencil was hovering right in front of the double doors that led to the gymnasium.

_'Okay,'_ Bonnie steeled herself for whatever would be on the other side and reached for the handle.

Before she could open the door, she was thrown backwards by the force of the magic blast that came from within. Her head collided with the hard wall and all went black.

* * *

She was woken up by screams.

Bonnie slid out from under one of the gym doors and got a look at the carnage around her. There were bodies strewn all around, some with puncture marks in their necks, which told her that the attackers were vampires.

Bonnie stumbled closer to a body, this one looked like it was torn limb from limb. She had seen something like this once, but that was a rogue werewolf that had lost it's pack and gone insane, killing anyone that got in its path until it had been mercifully put down. She figured she must still be confused by the knock on her head, and said a quick healing spell before she continued her search.

Bonnie continued to follow the screams, the victims she came across all showing signs of being attacked by something supernatural. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, hellhounds…each creature had its own magical signature, and for some reason they all decided to converge on her school.

Bonnie yelped as she felt something grab her arm. She turned, a 'motus' already on her lips but it does when she realized who it was. "Tyler?"

The football star was barely hanging on, one side of his body riddled with long bloody grooves. His eyes were wild and he just kept saying the word werewolf.

Bonnie tried to call him down, but Tyler was clearly in shock. No matter how Bonnie tried to pry her arm from his grip, he would not let go. Finally, Bonnie grew impatient, she needed to go find whatever it was and put a stop to it. She used a bit of magic to knock him out. "Sorry, Ty."

Bonnie laid him flat on the ground and made sure his body was as safe as possible before she set off again. Tyler had been in the cafeteria with her other friends, she had to find them. She crept around corners, magic flaring as she attempted to either heal as many people as she could, or if they were clearly not going to make it, ease their suffering.

She made it all the way back to the lunchroom without running into anything. That in and of itself raised her hackles even more, too late she realized she hadn't done a damn thing to cloak herself, whatever it was probably already knew she was there.

She still attempted to be as quiet as possible though, no need to broadcast her presence. She had never thought about how open her cafeteria and lunchroom was before, but as she entered the abnormally quiet room she realized that there really was no place to hide.

Immediately she noticed the figures in robes gathered over a section of bodies. Bonnie watched as one shifted right in front of her eyes into a vampire and sank his fangs into its victims neck.

She was guessing it was a, or considering the sheer amount of damage, a team of shapeshifters. Bonnie had no idea why they would attack her school, or even be in Mystic Falls, but she felt better having identified what they were and knew from experience that they could be beat.

Bonnie took a deep breath; this was going to take quite a bit of magic, since there was a group of them. No sooner did she start chanting did they lift their heads in unison and focus their empty eye sockets on Bonnie.

Bonnie stumbled in her chanting, her confidence faltering. It was one thing to face them when she had her grandmother and cousin with her; it was another when it was just her by her lonesome.

She was so focused on the shapeshifters that she didn't register the person coming up behind her. She was knocked off her feet by a student that seemed to be looking for a place to hide.

The creatures screeched and spread out across the cafeteria, each one shifting into something different. "Seriously?!" Bonnie hated when they did that, because it involved the extra step of killing them like whatever it was they shifted into, and THEN killing the shapeshifter itself.

Bonnie held her own for a bit, but she knew she was in trouble when her nose started bleeding and her spells were getting weaker. This was the longest she'd ever had to perform alone, and coupled with the fact that she had already mistakenly used a large amount of magic healing other students, she knew it was only a matter of time. She needed to get out of there and get word to her grandmother that she needed help.

Unfortunately she only made it as far as the hallway before she was attacked from the side. She was knocked into the lockers and surrounded before she could even get up.

"I'm sorry, grams." She breathed out.

* * *

_Hallelujah, I'm a witch,_

_I'm a witch, Hallelujah_

Bonnie jolted up in bed, a scream caught in her throat. She scrambled from her bed and made it to the bathroom just in time, spilling bile into her toilet. It had been a while since she'd had a dream that vivid. She swore she could still smell the scent of blood in the air.

She flushed the toilet and shakily got to her feet. She spent extra time brushing her teeth, she wanted that taste out of her mouth. Her shower was extra hot to chase the chill away.

She got dressed for school, idly wishing her father was home just so she could have some noise in the house. Normally she didn't mind being left alone, but after that dream…Briefly she considered staying home, but she wanted to get to school and see for herself that everything and everyone was just fine.

The day was one big deja vu.

By the time Bonnie got to lunch, she was ready to scream. Every little thing played out exactly like it did before, right down to Caroline and Tyler bickering over her not having a date to Homecoming.

She scanned the room to see if Malachai was sitting in the same spot, and sure enough, he was. Her heart pounded as she watched him spin his pencil again.

"...right Bon?" Bonnie didn't answer, didn't look away from the pencil. As soon as it shot away, Bonnie stood up too.

"Get out of here." Bonnie spoke to the table at large. She felt no urge to follow it straight away like she did last time, she knew where it would end up. Her priority now was to get people to safety.

Caroline and Tyler were still bickering, while Elena was attempting to play mediator. Matt was the only one paying attention to her, "What was that, Bon?"

"You all need to get out, right now." She turned to Matt, "Get out of the school, go to the grill or something, but leave this area." She didn't wait for an answer, she needed to find the shapeshifters and lead it away from all the unsuspecting teenagers that were in the vicinity.

She knew that the shape shifters were most likely in the gym and would work their way towards the cafeteria. She needed a way to clear the school. Bonnie was considering calling in a fake bomb threat when the simple answer presented itself: the fire alarm.

Bonnie pulled it and watched as all the kids streamed out of the cafeteria, joking the entire time. Bonnie cloaked herself and watched to make sure they all got out. It seemed like her plan was solid, until the screams started once more.

Unlike the last time where she had been knocked out for this part, this time she had a front row to the attack. Out of nowhere it seemed, all manners of supernatural beings converged on the crowd. It was chaos as wolves bounded in and started ripping into people. Vampires fed from necks, even though it was daylight, Bonnie even saw some of them start to smoke.

This time, not hindered by having been knocked out, or having used up magic healing anyone, Bonnie was more exponentially more effective. She managed to contain and destroy the group, even though it cost her a great deal of magic.

She didn't have long to celebrate her victory though, as she staggered into an empty classroom to take a much needed break, she found herself face to face with one of her teachers. Bonnie froze in her tracks, she would have thought that anyone this close to the action would have been long gone already.

"Are you okay Mr. Tanner?" Bonnie kept as close to the door as possible, there was something off about how he was just silently staring at her. Bonnie reached out to see if she could read his aura, and flinched when it came back as something distinctly not human.

"Shit." She swore softly. The thing wearing her teachers face grinned, and Bonnie gasped as she saw all the sharp, pointy teeth that now inhabited his mouth. Bonnie didn't need to see anymore, she threw a few desks at him and hurried out the door.

She made it a few steps before she was ambushed from behind. A meaty arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her clear off her feet. Just like before, she realized her magic was too depleted to effectively do any real damage, but that didn't stop her from fighting back.

It was an exercise in futility, Bonnie's screams echoed down the corridor as the creature ripped into her neck. Her last thought was that whatever it was, it wasn't a shapeshifter.

* * *

_Hallelujah, I'm a witch,_

_I'm a witch, Hallelujah_

Bonnie threw off her covers and hunted frantically for her phone. She needed to call her grandmother, if anyone could help her figure this out, it was her. Bonnie paced in her bedroom listening to the phone ring, "Come on grams, pick up, please." No answer.

Too late she remembered that her grandmother was off on her annual month long retreat. She threw her phone against the wall in frustration. That means that whatever it was had waited until it was just Bonnie before attacking.

She thought to call Lucy, but getting a hold of her cousin was hit or miss even when her hometown wasn't under attack. "Think Bonnie." She whispered to herself. She looked at the clock, she knew the attack would happen around lunchtime, that would give her enough time to swing by her grandmother's place and take a look through her grimoires to see if there were any answers in there.

She didn't bother with her normal morning routine, just took a cursory shower before hopping in her car and speeding over to the cottage tucked away from the main road. Bonnie tore through the front door and went straight to the library, where she stopped dead. She realized she had no idea what to look for. She had been so sure that it was shape shifters, but now she wasn't so sure. The thing that wore Mr. Tanners face felt more like a ghoul, they presented the same way as shape shifters, but where shape shifters could shift into anything, ghouls could only take the form of whomever they had just killed.

Why were shapeshifters and ghouls attacking Mystic Falls?

Bonnie had no answer to that, and her grandmother's grimoires were no help. She checked the clock, it was almost 11, and she was no closer to finding a solution. She closed the book with a snap, maybe she didn't know what it was, but she knew they could be killed. She just needed a little bit of help.

Bonnie grabbed her book bag and dumped the contents on the floor, she ventured outside into the shed that was in the back of the house. Bonnie stepped inside and undid the glamour spell, immediately she was looking at a slew of potions, weapons, and other odds and ends. She grabbed whatever could fit into her bag and high-tailed it out of there.

She arrived on campus just in time to see the pencil go zooming by, but once again ignored it. She magically sealed not only the doors to the cafeteria, but also the classrooms were classes were still being taught, hoping to minimize the amount of people that would be slaughtered.

Bonnie felt the magic wave that meant the creatures were out, and geared up for a fight. This time, defeating the shapeshifters took up a lot less time and magic. She swept the halls on the lookout for the ghouls.

She had just turned a corner when she heard Matt's voice, "Bonnie?" She swung around sharply, aiming her crossbow in the center of his chest. He widened his eyes and took a step back.

"Jesus Christ! What the hell is going on? Is that thing real?" He gestured to her crossbow, which was locked and loaded with arrows dipped in blessed silver. It wouldn't outright kill a ghoul, but it would incapacitate one long enough for her to hopefully question it.

"Yes, it's real. Step back." She ordered. From her recollection, Matt should have been locked inside the cafeteria with the rest of her group of friends. Which meant she'd found her ghoul, "What are you doing out here? You should be in the cafeteria."

"I was." He nodded, "But Caroline was bitching about you not showing up and wanted to head over to your house and see if you were okay." He advanced towards her, "Where did you even get something like that?"

"I said back up!" Bonnie ordered. The story sounded plausible, Goddess knows Caroline was a stickler for attendance, but still….

Holding the bow with a steady hand, she reached back to pull an arrow from the bag she had strapped around her back, "I need you to take this arrow and cut yourself with it." She floated it over to him, uncaring about using magic in front of him. If she was right, whenever she figured out what was going on and defeated the big bad, he wouldn't remember this anyway.

Matt's eyes were as wide as saucers, "Did you just..?"

"Take the arrow Matt, please." Bonnie needed to get this over with and continue her search.

His cocked his head, "And if I don't?"

Bonnie sighed in irritation; of course his inquisitive nature would rear its head right now. "Then I'll do it for you." So quick that Matt didn't have a chance to move, Bonnie made a slashing motion with her hand and the arrow sliced across his forearm. "What the hell, Bonnie?"

Bonnie was holding her breath to see if anything would happen. Aside from blood welling up from the cut and Matt shooting her a wounded look, nothing else happened. She lowered the crossbow, "I'm sorry Matty, I just needed to make sure."

"Sure of what?" Matt took a step forward then abruptly stopped. He made a gurgling sound and a line of blood dribbled from his lips.

"Matt?"

"I'm afraid not." The voice sounded like Elena, but with an edge to it. Matt's body dropped and she saw her childhood friend standing there with Matt's still beating heart in her hands. "Hello, Bonnie Bennett." Matt's heart was carelessly tossed aside like it was nothing.

"Who are you?" Bonnie aimed her crossbow at her friend's doppelganger. "What do you want?"

"The same thing any other creature wants….freedom." The double shrugged. "I'm not the only one, either. But I bet you've already guessed that."

"Freedom from what?" Bonnie knew her family was tasked with keeping Mystic Falls safe, but as far as she knew, there weren't any prisoners being kept anywhere.

"Oh, Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie." The double tsked at her, "You see-" She was cut off mid sentence and shrieked in pain. Bonnie frowned in confusion as the ghoul reached an arm back trying to remove the arrow that had been stuck there by none other than Malachai Miller.

He hopped over the creature and made his way to Bonnie's side. "It looked like you needed help." Bonnie realized she had never heard him speak before. They'd shared classes, but he mostly kept to himself.

"I appreciate it, but you need to leave the school, it's not safe here." Bonnie tried to shoo him away while keeping an eye on the wounded ghoul on the ground. The glamour of her BFF had faded away and it's true form was revealed.

"Yeah, I can see that." He murmured his wide eyes locked on the ghoul. "So how do you kill one of those things?"

Bonnie handed him the crossbow and instructed him to keep it trained on the creature. She rummaged through her backpack, and pulled out what looked like a simple bracelet. "I can't kill it just yet, I need answers."

She approached the ghoul who spat at her feet, "You dare try to use a dark object on me?" It wheezed out a laugh, "I'm going to enjoy watching you burn."

"What?"

Even as she said it, Bonnie felt the air heat up around her. She frantically turned and tried to throw up a shield to at least try to protect Malachai, but it was too late.

As the roiling wave of fire washed over them, she could have sworn she heard Malachai say "Well, this is new."

* * *

_Hallelujah, I'm a witch-_

The next day Bonnie hauled ass out of bed, she wanted to know if she'd heard what she thought she did. She swung by her grandmothers place again, this time filling a duffle bag full of weapons. She cloaked and stashed it in an empty classroom before heading to search for Malachai. She didn't know where he hung out specifically, but she knew her best bet would probably be near where the stoners were.

She was almost in a run when the bleachers came into view. She scanned its occupants before finding the person she was looking for at the very top, headphones on and just gazing out into the morning. Bounding up the stairs, she ignored the confused "Bonnie?" that came from Elena's younger brother Jeremy, she forgot that he hung out here too.

"Hey!" Bonnie called out, but his headphones were too loud to hear her, so she nudged his foot to get his attention.

He jolted at the interruption, ripping his headphones off in anger, "I told you, I don't give a fu-Bonnie?" there was a flash of surprise before his face schooled itself back into it's normal placidity "Are you lost?"

"Funny." She said sharply, "Can we talk?"

"About?" He leaned back against the railing.

"You know what." She crossed her arms.

"No, I really don't. We're not exactly BFF's, Bennett."

Bonnie clenched and unclenched her fists, he wasn't going to make this easy for her at all. She glanced around before leaning in, "'Well, this is new'." She quoted his last words perfectly.

His mouth dropped open, and Bonnie almost felt like crying. She wasn't alone. Someone else was reliving this hellish day too!

"Okay." He scooted over but Bonnie shook her head, "Not here, too many people listening." She took notice that all eyes were on the two of them. Bonnie didn't consider herself a snob, but she definitely didn't stray too far from her clique, and she was so far out of her normal surroundings that it wasn't easy to overlook.

She clambered down the bleachers, not needing to look behind her to see if he were following. She could hear the murmurs of his friends as he collected his things. When he got to where she was waiting he raised an eyebrow, "Library?" She nodded and waited until they snagged a table far away from everyone else before she began.

"You know, don't you." She said simply.

"Yeah." He focused on the table.

"Each time?" She pressed.

"I think so."

"So you know what I am." Bonnie held her breath.

He snorted, Bonnie could have sworn she heard him say "pretty fucking awesome".

"What?"

"What? Nothing." His ears turned an adorable shade of pink. "So do you know what's going on here?"

"No, the ghoul was the first time any one of them even spoke to me." Bonnie shrugged. "I have no idea what's going on or why." She looked down at her hands, if he expected her to have all the answers, then he was sorely mistaken.

"Where were you this past morning?" He asked suddenly.

"I was at my grandmothers' place. I figured if there was any kind of information on this thing ever happening before, it would be written down somewhere. But I haven't found anything yet, so each day I stock up as much arsenal as I can to try and fight as many as I can."

He flashed a quick smile, "Should have known Sheila was a bad ass witch too."

"You know my grams?" She wasn't sure why she was surprised to hear that. Her grandmother was the type to talk to everyone.

"Yeah, she swings by the boarding house every now and then." He lifted one shoulder casually, and even Bonnie knew that was code for let it go.

Bonnie brought the topic back to the subject at hand, "Look, this doesn't have to become your fight, too. I'm sorry for you having to relive this day over and over again. I'm working as hard as I can to try and figure this out." She rubbed her forehead; a headache was starting to form.

He looked affronted, "You want me to just step aside?"

"Malachai-"

"Kai, Just Kai." He interrupted, "Malachai sounds straight up evil."

"Okay, Kai." Bonnie repeated. "You don't have to be a part of this. I was serious about that, I'll find the solution, I always do. It's just taking me longer this time around." She looked at the clock, "Shit it's almost lunchtime, and I still need to set up my stuff."

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to just sit back. I can help, give me something to do. I'm sure Sheila must have something that regular humans can use." Bonnie really wanted to deny his request, but after a few days of going at it alone, she realized she could use the help.

While he helped her set up her traps, she answered as much about the supernatural world as she possibly could. She was pleasantly surprised to realize more information had sunk in over the years than she had consciously known. All those summer camps with other covens, practicing and honing her magic, she finally admitted to herself that she had grown lax with her magic and let it atrophy from disuse. Her grams always said that magic was like any other talent, it took constant practice to stay at the top of their game, but Bonnie had fallen extremely behind.

* * *

Over the next few days, she got a lot of practice. No matter what she threw at the various entities, she always found herself back in her own bed, the day ready to start again. The weird thing was, while she was growing more and more despondent, Kai was just the opposite. Sometimes he would beat her to her grandmother's place and be eager to go. He loved digging through all the old grimoires and journals, and he went wild over the shed in back with all the weapons in it.

He only needed a few lessons to get the hang of most of the items, which piqued Bonnie's interest. For most people it took a while to learn how to use, but Kai didn't seem to have that problem, he took to all the weapons like they were made for him.

Bonnie was already suspicious about his easy acceptance of everything supernatural, not to mention, judging by the amount of times her grandmother had gone to see him, she liked him too. Her grandmother had a tendency to collect the oddball witch or warlock to mentor them. It could certainly explain why he was aware of what was going on while everyone else was still oblivious.

She was proven right on the next go round, when she was besieged by pixies and Kai ran over to help. "Get off her!" He had a hand on one of the pixies and Bonnie watched in horror as his hand started to glow and the Pixie screamed in pain before going entirely gray and falling down dead.

Bonnie watched on Kai looked at his hand in amazement as it continued to glow. It seemed to genuinely surprise him, "What does this mean?" He held it out for Bonnie to see, she had an inkling, but at that moment, the remaining pixie herd overran them both.

* * *

"I think you're a siphon." Bonnie told him the next day when they met up at her grandmother's house. "That's a witch, or in a guys case, warlock that can take magic, but doesn't produce any of their own."

"Is that a bad thing?" Kai asked.

"Not that I know of" Bonnie turned a page, "I don't know a lot about them. Apparently it's a very rare ability."

Kai looked up in thought. "Maybe Sheila knew and wanted to see if I knew too?"

"Is this the first time you've ever done that?" She gestured to his hand.

He nodded, "It was such a rush, Bon. I've never felt anything like it. Is that what magic is like all the time?"

Bonnie noticed that he'd taken to calling her all kinds of nicknames, trying to find one that would stick. "It's pretty cool, although I've been taking a break as of late. School and all that stuff, you know how it is."

"No, I don't know how it is." There was an edge to his voice. Bonnie looked up in surprise, "I'm not exactly Mr. Popular, nobody will notice if I'm not at this week's house party."

"Kai..." Bonnie stopped unsure of what she was going to say. She knew Kai wasn't exactly anyone's favorite person at school; when he wasn't being snarky, he was quiet and kept mostly to himself. Which was a shame, because over time she'd found he had a wicked sense of humor, she was sure he would get along just fine with Matt. No matter what was thrown at him, he took it all in stride with a determination that she admired.

"Besides, I'd much rather be doing this instead." He looked down at the book in his hands, "I don't understand how you could grow up surrounded by this and not want to submerge yourself in it all the time."

"Magic isn't all pretty." Bonnie warned, "You can easily overdo it if you're not paying attention. I can't count the number of times I thought I was fine, only to fall out later."

Kai frowned, "All those times you fainted in middle school that was why?" She nodded. "There was a rumor going around that you were bulimic and never ate."

Bonnie scowled, "Yeah, I know. That was Caroline's doing."

"So they don't know?"

Bonnie gave a short laugh, "Hell no. One of the cardinal rules is we keep to ourselves. People act weird when they learn about the supernatural. You're branded as "the other"" she air quoted, "And when you're already a visible minority in a small town, you try your best to blend in." She paused, "Even though when shit hits the fan, you're the first people that they call."

"Your grandmother?" Kai probed.

Bonnie nodded, "They call her the crazy town drunk, but let something out of the ordinary happen, and they can't get to her door fast enough." She said bitterly.

"Who is 'they'?" Kai asked.

Bonnie hesitated to mention names, so she remained deliberately vague, "A few key town people. Apparently they've long known about the supernatural and formed a council of sorts to combat it, even though my family has largely been responsible for keeping the peace in this town."

Kai glanced at the book still in his hands, "So would this council keep any kind of records about everything that goes on in this town?"

Bonnie felt a wide smile spread across her face, "Yes they would."

As they packed up to leave, Bonnie watched Kai from under her lashes. He had a quick mind, and she was starting to see why her grandmother liked him.

"Let's go, Bennett."

Bonnie had activated something of a supernatural panic alarm that her grandmother had told her about years ago. All available council members would receive a summons and convene in a secret location.

On the way to the meeting, Bonnie gave Kai a rough overview of whom he should expect to see. She also advised him to keep as quiet as possible, she didn't need them to focus on the wrong thing and end up wasting more time.

Predictably, neither Mayor Lockwood, his wife, or Sheriff Forbes were happy with someone new showing up and 'outing' them. Bonnie blew past that and got right down to the matter at hand. Of course, the adults found it difficult to believe that they were stuck in a loop, and were hesitant to open up their archives for Bonnie to look through without more information.

She was seconds away from saying screw it and just taking it when the lights in the room flickered. "Oh no." Bonnie groaned. She exchanged a glance with Kai who understood what was happening, and was already opening the bag that he insisted on carrying inside.

"Bonnie?" Once Sheriff Forbes saw they were arming up, she unholstered her weapon as well.

"Whatever it is, it must have followed us, or me, here." That was all Bonnie was able to get out before Mayor Lockwood and Logan Fell both suddenly grabbed their heads and yelled in pain. Carol rushed to her husband, blood now trickling from his nose and eyes, as he repeatedly yelled, "Make it stop!"

Logan Fell was in the same shape, eyes bulging from his sockets, and blood covering his entire face. He was writhing on the ground chanting "free us". That was the only warning before a loud moaning could be heard.

"Oh, these bitches." Banshees. Bonnie dug into the bag and produced a box of ear plugs. She tossed a pair to Kai and the Sheriff, she definitely did not want the people who were carrying firearms and weapons to be affected. They got them in just in time to see three figures float through the wall, their mouths open and emitting a wail that shook the rafters.

Bonnie saw Kai flinch and was confused, the ear plugs were spelled for complete silence, how was he able to hear anything? She got her answer when he reached up to clumsily adjust his plugs and she saw his hands were glowing softly. He must have been accidentally siphoning the magic out of them due his nervousness.

She produced a knife dipped in silver and threw it at the banshee nearest to Kai. It screeched and floated away to the other side of the room. Her eyes met Kai's and she pointed to his hand, then his ears, and saw his eyes widened in realization.

Meanwhile Sheriff Forbes had switched out her normal issued weapon and was firing off a bunch of silver tipped bullets that had been blessed by Bonnie's grandmother herself. Mayor Lockwood and Logan Fell were dead, having mercifully succumbing to their injuries. Carol was on the ground, seemingly unaffected but curled around her husband's dead body.

The banshees converged flew around the room, still shrieking, Bonnie assumed. The silver tipped knife and bullets that the Sheriff were using were effective, but not causing enough damage to do anything fatal. Bonnie was edging towards her duffle bag, she hoped there was something in there that could contain them, she just had to reach it.

No sooner did her hand close around the top of the bag did she feel an eerie calm wash over the room. She looked up and her heart dropped into her stomach. Kai was standing to her right with his gun pointed right at her. Bonnie could see Sheriff Forbes turn to focus on Kai. Her gun was steady in her hands and if Bonnie could hear, she was sure she'd be hearing her tell him to put down the gun.

"It's okay." Bonnie couldn't hear her own voice, but hoped it contained enough sincerity to get through to him. "I know this isn't you, it's okay." She dropped her own knife and brought her hands to rest alongside her body.

She didn't hear the shot, obviously, but she felt the bullet rip through her chest. The last thing she saw was Kai's body jerk and start to fall as Sheriff Forbes opened fire on him.

* * *

_Hallelujah, I'm a witch-_

Bonnie magically threw the alarm clock across the room and laid back down. She used to actually like that song.

She was on her second cup of coffee when Kai came barreling through the door yelling her name.

"Calm down." Bonnie said nonchalantly. "I've already made coffee-oh my god!" She yelped as Kai pulled her from her seat and wrapped her up in a bear hug, apologizing the whole time.

Bonnie pulled back slightly, "I told you it was okay. I know you would have never done it on your own."

"No, never." He agreed vehemently, still holding her close. Bonnie gave in, wrapped her arms around his neck, and just savored the moment. It was incredibly rare that she had anyone other than her grandmother soothe her after an encounter. She rested her head on his shoulder, her mind absently noting how well they fit together. She bit back a sharp bark of laughter, if anyone had told her a few weeks ago that she would be clinging to the weird loner foster kid in her kitchen, she would have outright laughed in their faces.

"Okay." As much as Bonnie would have like to just stay in that moment, they still had work to do. She slowly withdrew from the circle of Kai's arms, "Come on, get some breakfast and then we're gonna bypass calling the council and just go research ourselves."

Kai held on a bit longer before gradually letting go. "We good?" He ducked down a bit to meet her eyes, just to make sure.

Bonnie bit her lip, not missing how his eyes darted down to catch the action, and nodded. "Yeah, we good."

They sat down to hash out a plan for the day. Kai brought up something that Bonnie had been wondering about as well. "Logan Fell kept saying 'free us', that's kinda what that ghoul was talking about too, right?"

"Yeah, well. Terrorizing us with new nightmares every friggin day is NOT the way to get me to agree." Bonnie rose to refill her coffee cup.

"Maybe we should focus on what they mean." Kai suggested.

Bonnie nodded without turning around, "I was gonna suggest that too. We're not really doing anything by simply fighting whatever it throws our way, we need to find the cause."

* * *

"This place is creepy as all get out." Kai said in a low voice as they descended the steps to the Lockwood cellar.

"It was a place for the slaves…..or excuse me 'indentured servants' and 'handmaidens'". Bonnie rolled her eyes. The Lockwoods, (well mostly Carol) were always all too quick to correct either Bonnie or her grandmother when they referred to the place as slave holdings.

"Why is everything kept here, though? Wouldn't it be safer with the people that can actually protect it?" Kai questioned.

"From what I can tell, it makes them feel important. You know, the first families being tasked with protecting the town secret and all that jazz." Bonnie tried not to sound bitter. She would never be eligible for the Miss. Mystic Falls pageant, simply due to the fact that her family was not coded as a 'Founding Family'. Even though it was by her family's blood, sweat, and tears that the town was even still standing after all these years.

She swallowed down the now familiar feeling of anger, being upset wouldn't get her anywhere. Logically she understood why her family laid low throughout the years, but that didn't mean it didn't sting a bit every year when Caroline, Elena, and almost every other girl her age got immersed in the pageant, while she was forced to stand on the sidelines and pretend that it didn't get to her.

"Besides," Bonnie picked up the conversation thread again, "They know that if we wanted access, we can simply bypass them. The meeting beforehand is just so they continue to think they have some kind of control."

They came to the heavy wooden door that led to the tiny room housing centuries old journals and papers from past Mayors, law enforcement officers and the like. Each Mayor and Chief of Police were obligated to keep a log of every supernatural thing that happened under their watch, so the next in line could be prepared.

On the wall beside the door, there was a single shelf with a bowl. Bonnie reached in, pulled a pin from the bowl, and pricked her finger enough for a small pinpoint of blood to well up. "This is another thing," Bonnie said smearing the blood on the door in an intricate design, "In magic, blood is everything. It can be used to power spells, bind spells, even bind people. It's basically a form of currency, and the older your family is, the more potent the magic."

Bonnie finished the spell and stepped back to allow the door to swing open. It led to a small windowless room that was lined with bookshelves. There was a fairly modern table with accompanying chairs and a few lamps to give the room light.

A few hours of searching yielded nothing useful, Bonnie even used her magic to search through the myriad of journals, but found no answers. Kai got a kick out of reading about the town's lurid history, and would have gladly stayed down there all day but Bonnie reminded him that they were running out of time before the day's monster would attack. They decided to head back to the school and see what would be unleashed today.

* * *

They had just reached the lunchroom doors when the aforementioned pencil went zooming by once more. Kai cocked his head, "Wonder where that's going?"

"I've tracked it as far as the gym doors, but I got knocked out the first day." Bonnie shrugged, "I haven't followed it since then cause I've been a bit busy."

"Well, maybe we should go see what's exactly in the gym?" Kai suggested, already headed towards that direction.

Bonnie sighed, "Fine, but don't stand so close to the doors, they're what knocked me out the first time."

They made their way to the gym and stood a careful distance away as the doors blew open. Kai started to creep inside, but Bonnie grabbed his arm to shove him behind her, "Let me go first!" Kai rolled his eyes and wrapped his hand around hers. Together they cleared the door and entered the gym.

Every light in the gymnasium was on, and in the center of the gym, there was a man that started clapping as soon as they entered. He looked young, around their age, with a chiseled jaw and mischievous green eyes.

"I was honestly starting to think you'd never make it back here and I'd have to come find you myself." He swept an arm out, "please, have a seat."

"We'd rather stand." Bonnie stayed right where she was and gripped Kai's hand even harder.

The man let out a joyous laugh, "Oh how wonderful, you're getting along! That's so great!" He produced a chair from out of thin air and took a seat. "I admit I was worried." He leaned in as if to tell them a secret, "Normally witches and siphoners aren't exactly known for being able to get along."

_So I was right_, Bonnie thought to herself, he was a siphon, but they could worry about what that meant later. Right now, she needed answers. "What do you want?"

The man laughed, "Right down to business, you are a Bennett after all." He slapped his hands against his upper thighs, "I'm going to be honest with you Bonnie, I need you to do me tiny a favor. I've had enough of being locked away, I need you to drop the veil and let me out."

"Out of where?" Kai jumped in. "And what makes you think she's gonna agree? You've been putting her through hell for days now!"

"Funny you should mention Hell." The stranger chuckled darkly, "Where I am right now is pretty much the same." He fixed Bonnie with a hard look, "I don't belong there, yet I was willing to stay and do my time, but your family took away the only solace that I had. I tried to play nicely with your grandmother but she seems to think I deserve my unending prison sentence."

"My grams wouldn't let you out, so you decided to wait until she was gone to come after me?" Bonnie asked incredulously.

He shrugged, "Young people are so much more malleable in their beliefs." He stood up to advance on the couple, "If you want this day to ever end, I can make that happen, all you have to do is let me out."

He snapped his fingers and Bonnie looked around in alarm as she heard growling coming from all around her. "Or I can continue to send every creature that's imprisoned with me after you and the magic sucker here until you either drop from overuse of magic or go crazy living the same day."

Bonnie swallowed nervously, "What if I can't?" For this person to have that kind of pull, he must have been extremely powerful. If her grams really did lock him away for his crimes, then how the hell was Bonnie supposed to match her grandmother's power?

The man smiled, "Oh, something tells me that you just need the right motivation, you Bennetts always did have a soft spot for the innocent." He snapped his fingers and Kai was wrenched away from Bonnie, the growling becoming even louder. Bonnie watched in horror as three hellhounds appeared, surrounding Kai.

"The choice is yours, Bonnie. I'll even leave you with a little hint to get you started." He waved his hand once more and a blackboard appeared with a single line written:

_When you need me, you throw me away. But when you're done with me, you bring me back. _

The stranger smiled one last time, "Tik tok, Bonnie Bennett." He disappeared in a puff of smoke as the hellhounds seemed to take that as a signal, and as one they converged on Kai. Bonnie turned away from the sight, but couldn't block out his screams of pain.

She didn't even bother fighting when they turned on her.

* * *

"I can't believe I was mauled by hellhounds!" Kai was outraged as he came bursting into her home the next day.

"Join the club." Bonnie said in a monotone. Since waking up, she hadn't even bothered to change out of her pajama's. She had just laid in bed thinking about the riddle that was written on the board.

_When you need me, you throw me away. But when you're done with me, you bring me back. _

She had no idea what the answer was, hopefully Kai would be able to help her figure it out.

"Earth to Bonnie." Kai waved a hand in front of her face.

"What?" She snapped before catching herself, "Sorry, I'm just in a weird mood."

"Is it about the answer to that riddle yesterday?" Kai busied himself with making breakfast. Bonnie had noticed off-handedly that not only did he like to cook, he could cook extremely well. They had established a rhythm of him coming over to her house first thing in the morning, and after the third for fourth day, he'd started making them breakfast while they would brainstorm how to potentially handle that day's events.

"Yeah, it's our first good lead, and I have no idea what the answer is." Bonnie lamented.

"That's easy, anchor."

"What?"

"The answer, it's an anchor." Kai said nonchalantly. Bonnie felt all the blood in her veins turn to ice. "Shit."

Kai did a double take at her surprised face. "I take it by anchor, he wasn't talking about anything nautical."

"No." Bonnie sat down heavily at the kitchen table, "The anchor is the thing that bridges this world and the other side-wait let me back up." She corrected herself when she saw kai's face scrunch up in confusion.

"The other side is where all supernatural beings go when they die." She explained. "It's separated from this world by something called a veil. The anchor is the only thing that can exist in the two realms at the same time." Bonnie thought for a moment. "Or should be the only thing. Whoever that was mentioned that he was serving an unending prison sentence, he must have died at one point and was sent to the other side, but I don't understand how he was able to get out."

"Is there anyone we can call or talk to about this anchor thing? I know your grandmother is unreachable, but maybe you can try getting ahold of your cousin again?" Bonnie shook her head. "I'm pretty sure this was set up so I would be unable to reach outside of Mystic Falls for help." She closed her eyes in defeat, "We're gonna have to go right to the source."

"What source? That asshole?" Kai pointed with the spatula in his hand, "No thanks, he made puppy chow of us, Bonster. I really don't want to run across him again."

"No, I mean, the anchor. We're gonna have to speak with her."

Kai turned away from the stove, "The anchor is a person?"

Bonnie squirmed in her seat, "Yeah, it's my mom."

* * *

The mood in the car was somber after Bonnie dropped that bomb. She could feel Kai shooting her concerned glances as she drove them to where Abby was staying, but she kept her eyes on the road. She was too focused on the fact that she would have to speak with her mother about this matter. Since Abby had become the anchor, Bonnie had less and less interaction with her. Abby would space out for long periods of time, and Bonnie was never sure when she'd pop back into the present.

Then there was the actual crossing over.

Although both her mother and grandmother tried to shield Bonnie from seeing what it did to Abby, she still saw enough to know that it was extremely painful. Her mother would get a certain look, and in most cases, just curl up into herself to ride it out. A few times Bonnie had come home to find Abby splayed out on the ground unconscious. That was when the decision to have Abby live in their ancestral home, which most people simply called the witch house.

The circumstances of her mother becoming the anchor was a particularly sore spot for Bonnie, especially since her behavior contributed to it happening. She had been dabbling in a forbidden form of magic called Expression and in the process of being forcibly cleansed, had somehow managed to free the old anchor from her duties. The spirits were all set to make Bonnie the new anchor in exchange, but Abby had stepped in at the last minute and taken her daughter's place.

That had been the event that turned Bonnie off from doing magic. She had been too terrified of causing another catastrophe and putting another family member's life on the line to comfortably practice as she had in the past.

When they arrived, Bonnie shut off the engine and sat for a minute before turning to Kai, "When we get in there, let me do all the talking, okay? And don't worry about what she says, she's half in this world and half on the other side, so she kinda…" Bonnie trailed off, not sure how to explain the weirdness that was her mother.

"Bon, I get it. I'll follow your lead." Kai soothed. She shot him a grateful look and exited the vehicle. When she got to the door, she was surprised to find that it was already open and Abby standing there, her eyes clear and focused on Bonnie for the first time in a long while.

"Hi mom." Bonnie said weakly.

"Oh my baby. I am so sorry." Her mother swept her up in a tight hug. "We didn't know he'd go after you."

Bonnie pulled back, "You know what's going on?" Then she started thinking, "Oh my god, mom, everything we've killed. I'm so sorry." Her mother must have been in agony having to have all those monsters pass through her every day.

Abby waved off her concerns, "Don't worry about me, I've been through worse. Wait-we?" Abby looked up to see Kai standing off to the side. "Hello?"

Bonnie motioned for him to come forward, "Mom, this is Kai Miller. He's aware of the repeating days too. We think he's a siphon."

Abby let go of Bonnie and rested her hands on Kai's shoulders, "I've known that your kind exists, but I haven't ever had the pleasure." Her face clouded over, "You've been through a lot with my daughter, thank you for not running when you had the chance."

"It's nothing, really." Kai brushed off her compliment. "I can't imagine anyone leaving her to deal with all this crap."

"Well, I appreciate it." The older woman ushered them both inside.

"What can you tell us?" Bonnie started.

"I should start by apologizing. This is something that has nothing to do with you, but I guess he thought you would be the most vulnerable one to go after when Grams and I told him no."

"Who is 'he'?" Kai asked.

"His name is Silas, he's one of the first true immortals."

"So he's a vampire?" Bonnie tried to clarify.

"No." Abby grimaced. "One of our early ancestors was "in love" with him-" Bonnie could hear the derision in Abby's voice, "and wanted to be with him for eternity. So, she created an elixir that would do just that. Well, he double crossed her and wanted it not for him and Qetsiyah, but for him and some other girl."

Bonnie flinched as all the lights in the house started flickering, but Abby barely blinked. "Seriously?" She spoke to the room at large, "It's the truth, stop being such a drama queen."

"What happened then?" Bonnie urged, time was ticking down and she didn't want to be around her mother when the monster of the day made it's appearance.

"I gave him what he wanted." A tall statuesque woman appeared from out of thin air. "I killed him, and shoved the elixir down her throat before using her as the first anchor for the Other Side."

"You what?" Bonnie had to have heard that wrong.

"They got what they wanted, they were together." The woman said defensivley. "He was on the other side, and she was the anchor to the other side, they saw each other all the time!"

"Qetsiyah, please." Abby said.

"Call me Tessa." The woman implored. "Tessa is more this century, don't you think?" She looked to Bonnie and Kai.

"Okay, sure." Kai hurriedly agreed. "So you mean to tell me that in your need to get back at your ex, you created a whole other dimension for supernatural creatures to go when they die?" Kai said slowly.

"It wasn't everybody." She vehemently denied, "I was vengeful, not dumb, it was only supposed to hold him. Admittedly, I wasn't paying that much attention to the spell, and whoops! It became kind of a holding place for when every supernatural being died." She shook her head and focused on Bonnie, a smirk forming on her face "Well, that was until someone started experimenting with Expression."

Bonnie frowned. "What does that have to do with any of this?"

"The magic that I used to bind the traitor as the anchor was Expression, when you had to be cleansed of it, the spell didn't just extract it from you. It undid every spell held together by expression in the vicinity." She shrugged, "Of course nobody knew that would happen, whoops."

The guilt that Bonnie felt over her mother becoming the anchor intensified. If she hadn't strayed from ancestral magic, they wouldn't be in this situation.

"Silas was also a witch, a gifted one at that. He was also the king of loopholes and figuring out ways to get what he wanted." Tessa continued, "When the original spell was undone, we think he was able to slip out from the other side before your mother took up the mantle as anchor."

"You think? So you don't know for sure?" Bonnie asked.

"It was a bit chaotic at the time." Abby jumped in, "If there was any moment where it could have happened, it would have been then." She sighed, her eyes downcast, "We didn't have a lot of information about the anchor then and how being one works, we've never needed to know. But we've since discovered that there is a way for things or people to slip through when the anchor is either overwhelmed or in the process of being switched."

"How is he able to send stuff after us?" Kai questioned.

"This town is very blessed, Malachai." Both Bonnie and Kai stared in shock, neither one of them had told Abby or Tessa his given name. "With us being right on top of the ley lines that run through this place, he's able to reach in and pull certain beings through the thin spots, one of which is right under your school."

"So why isn't he attacking directly?" Bonnie had been wondering that for a while, "For as powerful as he is, why hasn't he come at me straight on."

"Because he's a coward." Tessa snorted.

"Because he's not strong enough." Abby interjected, shooting Tessa an irate look. "He's been on the other side for a long time, his magic is low and it's taking a while for it to replenish."

"How do we fix this?" Bonnie wanted to end this never-ending day and resume her life. "He said something about dropping the veil?"

"No!" Abby exclaimed, "You do that and every supernatural being that's ever died and crossed over will be able to roam free."

"Well then what?" Bonnie exclaimed. "He wants me to drop the veil; you're saying not to do it. He's going to keep throwing everything at us, I'm really tired of dying, and I'm pretty sure Kai is too. How can we stop this?"

Bonnie watched as Tessa and her mother exchanged glances, they obviously knew something that they were not telling her. "What?"

"Bonnie, I-" Abby started to say, but before she could finish, her eyes shot to the corner of the room. She stood up quickly, "You should go, right now."

Kai looked confused, "Are you talking to us?" Abby didn't answer, her gaze darting around the room frantically. Tessa came and stood next to Abby, "Bonnie, take your siphoner and go."

Kai wasted no time, standing up and grabbing Bonnie's hand, but she resisted. "Mom?"

"Go baby." Abby hugged her briefly and whispered in her ear, "Whatever you decide to do, I'll understand."

Before Bonnie could ask what she meant, a blast of magic ripped them apart, and Bonnie went flying through the door. Kai wrapped an arm around her waist and urged her to the car. "Get in."

They were backing out of the driveway when Bonnie saw the house go up in flames. She comforted herself with the fact that she knew the day would reset and it wasn't permanent. Kai sped away from the house, checking the rearview mirror the entire time. "I think we're good-"

He was abruptly cut off when their car was T-boned by an oncoming truck. Bonnie stayed conscious long enough to see four hooded figures surround her wrecked car and start chanting. _'They're witches.'_ She realized in shock.

One of the hooded figures reached in to touch Kai's face, Bonnie watched in disbelief as the hand was yanked away. "Gemini." It said with a hiss before focusing on Bonnie. She tried to scramble away, but there was nowhere to go in the crumpled mess of the car. She cried out in pain as it wrapped a hand around her upper arm and she felt her magic being ripped painfully from her.

Blessedly, she fell unconscious before long.


End file.
